Objective diagnostic support tool developed for Alzheimer's disease

A new decision support tool for objective diagnostics of Alzheimer's disease has been developed by researchers in Finland.

The study at VTT Technical Research Centre uncovered a way to compare measurements of an Alzheimer's patient to the measurements of other persons available in large databases, to provide a simply index of the severity of the disease.

Earlier diagnosis may also be possible through the heterogeneous patient measurement system, or PredictAD as it has been named, in addition to improved accuracy.

"The PredictAD tool provides a new option to support decision making by providing objective information about the patient," stated Professor Hilkka Soininen, who lead the clinical validation of the project.

Current diagnostic tools for Alzheimer's rely on biomarkers measured from magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, biomarkers from cerebrospinal fluid and genetic biomarkers in addition to evidenced memory impairment.

Clinicians must make the final diagnosis by combining heterogeneous measurements with information from interviews of the patient and relatives.

This process relies heavily on a doctor's discretion and can leave room for mistakes.

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